K9 tracks Deerfield woman following car chase

GREENFIELD — A Deerfield woman pleaded not guilty to a slew of charges in Greenfield District Court this week following a car chase in Montague and Greenfield that ended with a fight in a mobile home park and a police dog track.

Montague police reported an officer was pursuing a matching black SUV across the White Bridge into Greenfield, and Greenfield police joined as the SUV headed north on Route 2, according to Greenfield Sgt. James Rode’s arrest report.

Rode wrote the SUV and police were traveling at 60 mph in a 45-mph zone and ran a red light before speeding into the 42 Adams Road mobile home park. The driver bailed out and ran, Rode wrote, and he chased her on foot behind a trailer.

Rode wrote the woman refused to be handcuffed, shouting that she had done nothing wrong, flailed away from handcuffs, attempted to rush him and punched him in the chin after he grabbed her hair. Rode wrote he backed away, took out his pepper spray and told her to stop resisting but she repeated that she hadn’t done anything wrong.

“She started to come toward me again so I discharged my pepper spray. She received a direct spray to her left eye,” Rode wrote.

The woman ran and police searched the area for the next hour, during which time Rode identified the woman as Gunnells from a Montague Police photo.

Police ultimately found Gunnells with the help of Greenfield police dog Drago, who picked up a trail from a flip-flop discarded near the SUV.

Gunnells allegedly had two packets of heroin in her possession.

Following her arraignment, Judge William F. Mazanec III set bail at $500 cash bail or $5,000 surety. Gunnells was also arrested on two warrants, one from a previous drug possession case in which the prosecutor alleged she failed to submit to drug testing as a condition of her release.